Descriptions

In rapid serial visual presentation, identification of the second of two targets is impaired when it closely follows the first target. This phenomenon is known as the attentional blink (AB) effect. Awh and his colleagues (2004) found that face discrimination was immune to AB when performed together with a digit task. They proposed a multi-channel model in which digit processing utilizes a figure-based channel, leaving the configural-based channel available for face processing. We tested this model using a word discrimination task (assumed to occupy the feature-based channel) and a facial emotional discrimination task (assuming to occupy the configural-based channel). The emotional congruity between facial expressions and words (the word “angry” was paired with a happy face or with an angry face) was manipulated. We found a small but significant AB effect. The AB effect was observed even when non-emotional words (e.g., the word “berry”) were used. Our findings are inconsistent with the multi-channel model, suggesting that there is a structural limitation in processing successive visual objects.